This monthly newsletter is targeted at addressing the needs of our customers.

This month we'll continue the series of tips on Disk Storage.

Tip 243

STORE YOUR DATA THE SAME WAY THE BIG BOYS DO

Category:

DISKSTORAGE

Want to enjoy the same advantages of high end data protection at a fraction of the cost? By using a second EIDE or Ultra DMA hard drive, with a special disk controller card, you can have a completely up-to-date backup of your data at all times. Although not a replacement for archival storage backkups, this setup means no downtime or lost data in case of a drive failure.

The controller card, Promise Technology's Drive Defender, sends identical data to both drives simultaneously. If one of the drives fails, the good drive continues to perform reads and writes without any data loss. A graphical warning flags the problem, and the failed drive can be replaces, at which time the controller rebuilds data on the new drive automatically. With the cost of hard drive storage at low levels, this approach is a very economical form of disaster insurance.

Tip 244

PLACES, EVERYONE

Category:

DISKSTORAGE

When naming folders or shortcuts, think twice before you start typing. Remember that by default, when you view the contents of a folder, Windows 95 lists these items in alphabetical order--folders first, then icons and shortcuts. If you want to be sure that a folder or shortcut tops the list, start it with an "A."

Now let's take this one step further. If you want an item to precede the A's, try the Yellow Pages trick: Start it with "AA" or "AAA."

But wait--there's more. A number at the beginning of the name will top any number of A's. And starting with an underscore, as in "_My Letters" tops 'em all.

Tip 245

SPRING CLEANING

Category:

DISKSTORAGE

Would you like to do a cleanup on one of your well-used disk drives? If so, check out Disk CleanUp at

http://www.execpc.com/~sbd/

Disk CleanUp will do a thorough job of getting rid of those remnants that get left on the hard disk when you delete a file. As you probably know, when you delete a file in Windows (or MS-DOS) the contents of the file remain intact (until they get written over). All that happens during a file deletion is that the FAT no longer points to the deleted file. This means that someone with the proper tools can read the file. Running Disk CleanUp will delete the information in those file remnants.

Disk CleanUp runs in either Windows 95 or Windows NT. The program, by Gregory Braun (Software by Design), is free for your use.

While you're visiting the Software by Design site, take a look at some of the other offerings. You'll find an interesting collection of utilities.

Tip 246

EVERY LITTLE BIT COUNTS

Category:

DISKSTORAGE

Unless your hard disk is so large that conserving space means absolutely nothing to you, you may be interested in taking steps to keep those mail files from growing uncontrollably. To save space, while in your Internet Mail window periodically choose File, Folder, Compact, All Folders.

A way to save even more disk space is to get rid of deleted files as soon as possible. You can click the Deleted Items folder and delete the files that you're sure you won't need again.

If you're careful about how you delete files, you can even tell Mail to do the job for you. Simply choose Mail, Options and then click the Read tab. Select the check box labeled Empty messages from the Deleted Items folder on exit. Click OK to record your change and close the dialog box.

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